The weather is still very hot although the humidity has somewhat abated. It is when people tend to drink more than they eat, forgetting that the human body needs as many calories in hot summers as in cold winters. Since bentoes are served cold or lukewarm at best they are perfect for the summer, although you do have to be careful about preserving the quality and safety of the food. The latter conditions add another reason for bentoes to be made at home unless you want to feed yourself with preservatives!

The Missus had some large prawns handy in the fridge. She rolled them in thin pork belly strips and deep-fried them with coarse panko/breadcrumbs. Once cooked, she let them rest on a grill to cool down and give out any extra fat.

She lined the bento box with plenty of rice topped with shredded vegetables. The latter will soak in any extra juice and sauce and add taste to the whole.
She then placed the prawns on top and seasoned them with sweet sesame and miso barbecue sauce. She added a small cornichon for the last touch.

Plenty of vegetables must balance the meat and the rice (the latter providing only carbohydrates and fibers).
The Missus served them both cooked and raw.

As for the cooked vegetables she stir-fried aubergines/eggplants, green and red peppers, all cut roughly to the same size for even cooking, in a piquant sauce. She put the finishing touch by sprinkling black sesame seeds on top.

As for the raw vegetables, and the color touch, she placed cut yellow plum tomatoes on a bed of cress.
Lastly dessert was provided with red grapes.

Healthy, plentiful and savory!

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After almost a month’s hiatus the fiery Dragon at home has finally cooled down and resumed her bento creations!
Today’s title comes from the fact we were offered a succulent (and enormous) spider crab last night which the Missus steamed (or boiled? she didn’t tell me!) and partly served for dinner keeping enough apart for today’s bento!

She steamed plain white rice before mixing it with all kinds of ingredients cut in small pieces, except for the crab meat. The latter had been divided into shredded meat and whole leg meat.

She mixed the rice with thinly sliced Japanese cucumbers, small pieces of lemon, avocado, shredded crab meat and small pieces of black pepper processed cheese.
She topped the whole with the same plus the crab leg meat cut into small pieces for design and garnish.

As for the side box she kept things simple and light considering the comeback of the searing hot weather.

For the vegetables she placed bean salad and more boiled black beans on a bed of Shizuoka-grown cress and added a cut plum tomato for more vitamins and design.

For dessert she prepared her specialty, tamgoyaki/Japanese omelette, sweet enough to be considered as such!

The Dragon might have lost some of her fire but the weather is simply scalding outside.
A tasty and colorful bento for a typical summer day!

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It seems that for the last week or so either the thermometer climbs over 35 degrees Celsius or it rains halberds (as we say in France!)!
It is certainly not easy to conceive a bento then.
Lucky we have access to so many vegetables here in Shizuoka!

Rice is probably more practical served as nigiri then.
The Missus prepared three types:
-Wrapped in egoma, a large type of shiso with a strong flavor and fried in sauce.
-Containing umeboshi and black sesame. Incidentally the umeboshi is made with Shizuoka-grown organic Japanese plums!
-Mixed with beef chirimen/semi-dry powder.
Pickles are also important for hygiene in summer: home-made cucumber and myoga ginger pickles and home-made fresh ginger pickles!
The latter are extremely tasty, too!

For a better view of the nigiri!

I contributed a lot to all those vegetables and fruit as I’ve been interviewing a few farmers!

Vegetable salad, green peppers, carrot, tomato (Shizuoka City supermarket) with Chinese cabbage lettuce (Kakegawa City supermarket) marinated with fresh ginger and konbu seaweed.

String eggplant/aubergine and two types of peppers marinated from a macrobiotic farm in Kakegawa City.
Nashi/Japanese pears from Ichikawa Garden in Iwata City.

When it’s hot, eat local!
Fresh, delicious and so safe!

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I wonder whether I could say this Bento bore the influences of East and West!
Tea and soba/buckwheat noodles are definitely Eastern although they eat a lot of buckwheat in Western France…
Quiche is definitely Western but the Cherry Shrimps can be found only in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan!

The soba/buckwheat noodles are made in Hamamatsu City with Shizuoka Tea, hence their beautiful color!
The Missus having boiled, drained and cooled them, mixed them with salad beans and hime soba/姫蕎麦/buckwheat sprouts and tea dressing from Shizuoka before topping them with freshly grated wasabi from Utogi, Shizuoka City! Very local ingredients, indeed!

The side dish comprised the aforesaid Cherry Shrimps/sakuraebi/桜海老/ from Yui, Shimizu Ku, Shizuoka City, inside the quiche!

The quiche had been made the night before as a friend had come for dinner then!

The quiche had been made in the modern way, that is, light and healthy with a very thin crust consisting of filo crust.

The quiche had been laid over a bed of cress and complemented with more cress, red radishes and grape tomatoes all from Shizuoka.
As for dessert a couple of Japanese cherries!

Plenty of colors, healthy. delicious and so local!

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Sakura ebi/桜海老/Cherry Shrimps are the most famous seafood of Shizuoka Prefecture, a region already blessed with the richest bay in Japan, namely Suruga Bay/駿河湾.
Although we are not in season they are available frozen, good enough for a bento!
In season they become a real treat, cheap here but at steep prices elsewhere if fresh!

The Missus first steamed rice with finely cut ginger root and the cherry shrimps, and once cooked, mixed the whole lot with boiled edamame (green soy beans).

It certainly makes for great design, colors and balance.
It also gives an extra satisfactory “bite” to the rice!

The side box consisted of ingredients both from the land and the sea!

Those tubes are called “chikuwa/竹輪 in Japanese. They are made of fish paste first steamed then grilled around a stick.
They can be bought in any supermarket in Japan. If you cut them and push cheese or cucumber sticks inside them like the Missus did they for great design (and snacks, too!).

Chicken patties are called “tsukune/つくね in Japanese. They consist of minced chicken and spices (the Missus wouldn’t tell me!).
The Missus wrapped them in shiso leaves before pan-frying them for extra taste.
She added fresh shiso leaves, mini tomatoes and “himesoba/姫蕎麦/buckwheat sprouts for vitamins and fibers.
The dessert was blackberries from our balcony!

Very much a summer bento!

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We are just being battered by a monster Typhoon (40 m/s!). They just called them numbers in Japan, and I couldn’t agree more…
Anyway the Missus, having not been able to go shopping nonetheless managed with was “left” in the fridge!

She had marinated plenty of mushrooms the previous morning and found some frozen duck confit!

having steamed the rice, she mixed it with plenty of marinated mushrooms.
As for the mushrooms she mainly used Japanese shimeji and eringe she had first fried in olive oil before adding spices, vinegar and what else and let it marinate inside the fridge.

She then fried the duck confit until crispy, let it cool and finally shredded it before adding it to the rice with some French pickles.

As for the side dish, although she said she had nothing left, she came up with her specialty, carrot tagliatelle salad with walnuts and Ameera Rubbins Pearl tomatoes, boiled black beans, green peppers fried in oil, ponzu and soy sauce. She completed the whole with yellow kiwi fruit for dessert!

I don’t mind having another typhoon! LOL

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Today the Missus prepared my bento inside Ikawa Menpa Lunch Boxes!
These are made in Shizuoka City by one of the very few Japanese craftsmen left plying their trade in the creation of true lunch boxes, Mr. Yoshiaki Mochizuki/望月良秋さん who uses only hinoki/檜/Japanese cypress and sakura no ki/桜の木/cherry tree bark from Shizuoka City mountains!

The Missus devised this lunch with a concern for the very hot weather again when people not only need to drink lots of water but also absorb solid food!

As for the rice, after steaming it, she mixed it with plenty of home-pickled myoga ginger she had sliced beforehand and golden sesame seeds.
She actually tries to include sesame seeds any time she can for their great nutritious value.

As for the sweet and sour pork she first seasoned thin slices of pork belly and rolled them into rough balls before frying them in a sweet and sour sauce of her own recipe. Just before the pork was ready she stir-fried red and yellow sweet pimento and violet onions with it and put the lot atop the rice with a couple of French cornichons/pickles.

The side box was very much of Okinawan inspiration!

Goya champuru, the original Okinawa recipe, is basically made with goya/sour gourd and eggs. Some people add tofu and katsuo bushi/dried bonito shavings, but actually the recipes are innumerable!
The Missus made a simple one withn goya and eggs. Beautiful summer colors!

I actually contributed to the other half as I had made the umshu plum last year!
She added some Japanese cherries and small Shizuoka tomatoes with a bit of lettuce for the vitamins and fibers!

Certainly plentiful, tasty and colorful once again!

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Adventures in Bento Making, American Bento, Beanbento, Bento No1, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box, My Bento Box, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat; Bento Lunch Blog (German); Adventures In Bento; Anna The Red’s Bento Factory; Cooking Cute; Timeless Gourmet; Bento Bug; Ideal Meal; Bentosaurus; Mr. Foodie (London/UK); Ohayo Bento